Dave@Canibeat.com's Laguna Blue Project
03-16-2012, 11:51 PM
#1
Dave@Canibeat.com's Laguna Blue Project
Well I have been a member of s2ki for a few years now but I have never created a thread so I figured it was about time... I am a freelance photographer from New Jersey and I am the Co-Founder and Editor of Canibeat.com. I have followed a number of builds here on s2ki over the years but it wasn't until December of 2011 I decided to buy an s2000 myself. Some of you might recognize my other car, it's a 2007 Si Coupe (hence the old username) which I still own and daily drive.
After buying the Si brand new I gradually went lower and more aggressive with my wheel choices over the years, and although it's still in winter mode right now this is how it normally sits on fully polished CCW's with gold ARP hardware, all of the Si badging removed, and the shaved Si grille and EX trunk among other things.
I contemplated supercharging the Si for a while, doing the interior, and cleaning up the engine bay... but after a lot of thinking I decided the car "just worked" and it didn't make sense to boost a slammed car or dump anymore money into a car I drive ~23k miles a year. So I started thinking about a second car...
After surfing s2ki for years and searching all of the used car sites for a few weeks I had my heart set on finding a clean, low mileage, Laguna Blue AP2. At first I searched locally in the Tri-State area but the few Laguna Blue S's that I found were rough around the edges, had not been in accidents, had rebuilt motors, you name it...
So I decided to expand my search and see what else was out there since nothing was popping up locally. Then I stumbled across a Laguna Blue S on Auto Trader that was down in Greenville, SC that fit all of my criteria and looked great in the photos. I was a little skeptical about buying a car site unseen based on photos so I had a good friend of mine by the name of Ben Howard who happens to live in the area and is a long time Honda guy go check out the car.
After Ben checked out the car and gave it the ok I booked a couple one way tickets for a buddy and I to Greenville, arranged for the salesman to pick us up at the airport, and crossed my fingers that the car was everything I was looking for! Otherwise I would be renting a car for the weekend, booking some return flights to NJ, and coming home empty handed...
So here is what I saw when we pulled into the dealership
And I was sold! The only thing it was missing at the time was a couple front license plate plugs! My buddy and I spent the day in Greenville and the next morning we hit the road and drove the car back to NJ. Definitely an experience I'll never forget!
I got it home, gave it a wash, and took off the dealer stickers...
I went the slammed "stanced" route with the Civic, and no regrets but after driving a slammed car for years I was enjoying the car in it's stock form for the first few months...
I started to collect a few parts for the car but since I was just doing small little things here and there and I spend so much of time shooting other peoples cars for my blog or print I just decided to document the progress with my iPhone until the car is really where I want it,and ready for a shoot.
So I removed the s2000 badges from the front fenders and added them to my collection of badges that I have shaved/removed from my other cars. At the same time I installed some JDM clear side markers.
I replaced the OEM antenna with a stubby ASM antenna
Then I did some research on coilovers and after talking to my friend Terry at Fortune Auto I decided to give the Fortune Auto 500's a shot, and I had Terry swap out the OTS springs for a set of 10k Swift Springs
Then I tried to decide which route I wanted to go with the car... low with aggressive wheels again? or meaty tires and functional?
While I was still thinking about that I decided to order a piece I had always liked even before I owned my own S... an authentic Amuse r1 front bumper. However, a week later the Tsunami and Earthquakes hit Japan. I was told it might take a little longer than the original 6-8 week estimate and I understood that...
While I was waiting for the bumper and deciding what direction I wanted to go with the car I threw on this Fortune Auto brushed Titanium shift knob.
Then once it warmed up last Spring I installed the Fortune Auto coilovers
Wheels make or break a car in my opinion... and I was still trying to decide what direction I wanted to go with the car so I test fit my 18x9 +35 BBS LM's that I used to run on my Civic and were just sitting around. I wasn't really feeling the look... Still waiting for the Amuse at this point.
The thought of 17's and a full size tire was starting to grow on me so when Ray (foxnyracing) hit me up and let me know he was selling his Advan RZ's I drove up to NY and picked them up a couple days later.
They are 17x8.5 +45 fronts with 235/40's and 17x9 +45 rears with 255/40's
With tires already mounted I decided to test fit them when I got them home to see how much fender work I was going to have to do. I loved the way they looked but the Amuse bumper still hadn't come in and I was busy cleaning up the Si and getting it ready for shows so I took the Advan's off and drove the car on stock wheels...
I was enjoying the convertible during the summer but I noticed a hole started developing in the soft top. The car is certified by Honda so after fighting with Honda I ended up getting a brand new soft top for the car. Here is a shot of it this past fall...
At this point I had been waiting over 9 months for the Amuse bumper to show up and I was getting the run around. Long story short I waited 9.5 months and still no bumper. I got a refund from that vendor, and although I was skeptical about ordering it again I reordered it from Bulletproof Automotive at the beginning of December.
As much as I love the convertible in warm weather I really wanted to find an OEM hardtop for the car. After searching for months I realized it was going to be impossible to find a Laguna Blue top and prices were only going up for them so when I saw a Silverstone top with all the hardware pop up within driving distance I jumped on it. It looks a little goofy with the two-tone thing going on but it's only temporary...
In the mean time I ordered a set of slim black Advan caps for the RZ's and they just came in a couple weeks ago.
Well it took a few months but I received GREAT customer service from Bulletproof and they said it would be here at the end of February or the beginning of March and the bumper showed up the first week of March!
It had been over a year after I had ordered it from the first vendor... so to say I was happy would be an understatement! lol
Then a set of brand new Recaro Pole Positions popped up FS only 20 ins from my house so I jumped on them. (sorry for the horrible pic in my room haha)
So this past weekend I got to work on installing the Amuse bumper which fits damn near OEM right out of the box... and mounting the Advans
Bumper installed
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Side view with the Advan's mounted, but the fenders still needed to be rolled at this point
So that pretty much brings us up to today, I have trimmed the front fender liners for additional clearance, cut the fender liner mounting tabs, and rolled the front fenders.
I removed both OEM seats from the car yesterday and installed the drivers seat today.
Next on my list is...
More to come over the next few weeks hopefully, but let me know what you think so far!
After buying the Si brand new I gradually went lower and more aggressive with my wheel choices over the years, and although it's still in winter mode right now this is how it normally sits on fully polished CCW's with gold ARP hardware, all of the Si badging removed, and the shaved Si grille and EX trunk among other things.
I contemplated supercharging the Si for a while, doing the interior, and cleaning up the engine bay... but after a lot of thinking I decided the car "just worked" and it didn't make sense to boost a slammed car or dump anymore money into a car I drive ~23k miles a year. So I started thinking about a second car...
After surfing s2ki for years and searching all of the used car sites for a few weeks I had my heart set on finding a clean, low mileage, Laguna Blue AP2. At first I searched locally in the Tri-State area but the few Laguna Blue S's that I found were rough around the edges, had not been in accidents, had rebuilt motors, you name it...
So I decided to expand my search and see what else was out there since nothing was popping up locally. Then I stumbled across a Laguna Blue S on Auto Trader that was down in Greenville, SC that fit all of my criteria and looked great in the photos. I was a little skeptical about buying a car site unseen based on photos so I had a good friend of mine by the name of Ben Howard who happens to live in the area and is a long time Honda guy go check out the car.
After Ben checked out the car and gave it the ok I booked a couple one way tickets for a buddy and I to Greenville, arranged for the salesman to pick us up at the airport, and crossed my fingers that the car was everything I was looking for! Otherwise I would be renting a car for the weekend, booking some return flights to NJ, and coming home empty handed...
So here is what I saw when we pulled into the dealership
And I was sold! The only thing it was missing at the time was a couple front license plate plugs! My buddy and I spent the day in Greenville and the next morning we hit the road and drove the car back to NJ. Definitely an experience I'll never forget!
I got it home, gave it a wash, and took off the dealer stickers...
I went the slammed "stanced" route with the Civic, and no regrets but after driving a slammed car for years I was enjoying the car in it's stock form for the first few months...
I started to collect a few parts for the car but since I was just doing small little things here and there and I spend so much of time shooting other peoples cars for my blog or print I just decided to document the progress with my iPhone until the car is really where I want it,and ready for a shoot.
So I removed the s2000 badges from the front fenders and added them to my collection of badges that I have shaved/removed from my other cars. At the same time I installed some JDM clear side markers.
I replaced the OEM antenna with a stubby ASM antenna
Then I did some research on coilovers and after talking to my friend Terry at Fortune Auto I decided to give the Fortune Auto 500's a shot, and I had Terry swap out the OTS springs for a set of 10k Swift Springs
Then I tried to decide which route I wanted to go with the car... low with aggressive wheels again? or meaty tires and functional?
While I was still thinking about that I decided to order a piece I had always liked even before I owned my own S... an authentic Amuse r1 front bumper. However, a week later the Tsunami and Earthquakes hit Japan. I was told it might take a little longer than the original 6-8 week estimate and I understood that...
While I was waiting for the bumper and deciding what direction I wanted to go with the car I threw on this Fortune Auto brushed Titanium shift knob.
Then once it warmed up last Spring I installed the Fortune Auto coilovers
Wheels make or break a car in my opinion... and I was still trying to decide what direction I wanted to go with the car so I test fit my 18x9 +35 BBS LM's that I used to run on my Civic and were just sitting around. I wasn't really feeling the look... Still waiting for the Amuse at this point.
The thought of 17's and a full size tire was starting to grow on me so when Ray (foxnyracing) hit me up and let me know he was selling his Advan RZ's I drove up to NY and picked them up a couple days later.
They are 17x8.5 +45 fronts with 235/40's and 17x9 +45 rears with 255/40's
With tires already mounted I decided to test fit them when I got them home to see how much fender work I was going to have to do. I loved the way they looked but the Amuse bumper still hadn't come in and I was busy cleaning up the Si and getting it ready for shows so I took the Advan's off and drove the car on stock wheels...
I was enjoying the convertible during the summer but I noticed a hole started developing in the soft top. The car is certified by Honda so after fighting with Honda I ended up getting a brand new soft top for the car. Here is a shot of it this past fall...
At this point I had been waiting over 9 months for the Amuse bumper to show up and I was getting the run around. Long story short I waited 9.5 months and still no bumper. I got a refund from that vendor, and although I was skeptical about ordering it again I reordered it from Bulletproof Automotive at the beginning of December.
As much as I love the convertible in warm weather I really wanted to find an OEM hardtop for the car. After searching for months I realized it was going to be impossible to find a Laguna Blue top and prices were only going up for them so when I saw a Silverstone top with all the hardware pop up within driving distance I jumped on it. It looks a little goofy with the two-tone thing going on but it's only temporary...
In the mean time I ordered a set of slim black Advan caps for the RZ's and they just came in a couple weeks ago.
Well it took a few months but I received GREAT customer service from Bulletproof and they said it would be here at the end of February or the beginning of March and the bumper showed up the first week of March!
It had been over a year after I had ordered it from the first vendor... so to say I was happy would be an understatement! lol
Then a set of brand new Recaro Pole Positions popped up FS only 20 ins from my house so I jumped on them. (sorry for the horrible pic in my room haha)
So this past weekend I got to work on installing the Amuse bumper which fits damn near OEM right out of the box... and mounting the Advans
Bumper installed
/>/> Side view with the Advan's mounted, but the fenders still needed to be rolled at this point
So that pretty much brings us up to today, I have trimmed the front fender liners for additional clearance, cut the fender liner mounting tabs, and rolled the front fenders.
I removed both OEM seats from the car yesterday and installed the drivers seat today.
Next on my list is...
- Find the right position on the rails
- Figure out some seat belt extenders
- Clear my SRS light and figure out if a jumper or resistor will work on the '06+ seat position sensors
- Roll the rear fenders
- Alignment
- Get the car painted and shave a few more things
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More to come over the next few weeks hopefully, but let me know what you think so far!
)should be done this weekend 
